Hainaut

Hainaut

(ĕnō`), Du. Henegouwen, province (1991 pop. 1,278,791), 1,437 sq mi (3,722 sq km), S Belgium, bordering on France in the south. The chief cities of the predominately French-speaking province are MonsMons, Du. Bergen, commune (1991 pop. 91,726), capital of Hainaut prov., SW Belgium, near the French border. Located at the junction of the Canal du Centre and the Condé-Mons Canal, it is the processing and shipping center of the Borinage district, and the closing.....Click the link for more information., the capital; CharleroiCharleroi, city (1991 pop. 206,214), Hainaut prov., S Belgium, on the Sambre River and on the Charleroi-Brussels Canal. It is a commercial and industrial center and a rail junction. Manufactures include steel, glass, machinery, processed food, and chemicals......Click the link for more information.; and TournaiTournai, Du. Doornik, commune (1991 pop. 67,732), Hainaut prov., SW Belgium, on the Scheldt River. Tournay and Doornijk are alternate spellings for the commune's French and Dutch names. It is a commercial and industrial center......Click the link for more information.. It is low-lying, except in the southeast, and has considerable productive farmland where wheat, grains, sugar beets, and dairy cattle are raised. Manufactures include chemicals and electrical equipment. The province is drained by the Scheldt, Dender, and Sambre rivers and is served by a dense rail network and the Charleroi-Brussels Canal. The county of Hainaut was created in the late 9th cent., and in the divisions of the Carolingian empire became a fief of Lotharingia. Count Reginar Long-Neck made himself master (late 9th–early 10th cent.) of the duchy of Lower Lorraine, which continued under his elder son (see LotharingiaLotharingia, name given to the northern portion of the lands assigned (843) to Emperor of the West Lothair I in the first division of the Carolingian empire (see Verdun, Treaty of)......Click the link for more information.), while his younger son inherited Hainaut. The widow of Reginar V, the last count of Hainaut, married (1036) Count Baldwin V of FlandersFlanders, former county in the Low Countries, extending along the North Sea and W of the Scheldt (Escaut) River. It is divided among East Flanders and West Flanders provs., Belgium; Nord and Pas-de-Calais depts., France; and (to a small extent) Zeeland prov., the Netherlands......Click the link for more information., but at his death (1070) Hainaut and Flanders were again separated. In 1191, Flanders again passed, through marriage, to the counts of Hainaut. Baldwin VI of Hainaut (as Baldwin IX, count of Flanders) took part in the Fourth Crusade and became (1204) emperor of ConstantinopleConstantinople, Latin Empire of,1204–61, feudal empire established in the S Balkan Peninsula and the Greek archipelago by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade (see Crusades) after they had sacked (1204) Constantinople; also known as the empire of Romania.....Click the link for more information. as Baldwin I. After Baldwin's death the two counties were united; in 1278 they were again separated. In 1433, Philip the Good of Burgundy added Hainaut and Holland to his dominions after overcoming the resistance of his cousin, Countess Jacqueline. Hainaut remained under the house of Burgundy until the death (1482) of Mary of BurgundyMary of Burgundy,1457–82, wife of Maximilian of Austria (later Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I), daughter and heiress of Charles the Bold of Burgundy. The marriage of Mary was a major event in European history, for it established the Hapsburgs in the Low Countries and.....Click the link for more information. when its history became that of the Austrian Netherlands (see Netherlands, Austrian and SpanishNetherlands, Austrian and Spanish,that part of the Low Countries that, from 1482 until 1794, remained under the control of the imperial house of Hapsburg. The area corresponds roughly to modern Belgium and Luxembourg......Click the link for more information.). By the treaties of the Pyrenees (1659) and of Nijmegen (1678) parts of Hainaut, including the city of Valenciennes, were permanently annexed by France; they form part of the present NordNord, department (1990 pop. 2,533,000), N France, bordering on the North Sea and Belgium. Lille is the capital......Click the link for more information. dept.

Hainaut

(French, Hainault; Flemish, Henegouwen), a province in Belgium, in the Schelde River basin. Area, 3,800 sq km. Population, 1,322,000 (1975), most of whom are Walloons. The capital is Mons.

Industries in the Mons-Charleroi region include coal mining, metallurgy, and heavy machine building. The region also has chemical, glass, and clothing industries. Agriculture plays an important role in the province’s economy; wheat, sugar beets, flax, and tobacco are cultivated, and livestock are raised.

Hainaut

(French, Hainault; Flemish, Henegouwen), a county formed in Lorraine in the ninth century. Hainaut became an independent feudal domain under the Holy Roman Empire during the 11th and 12th centuries. The counts of Henegouwen were also the counts of Flanders from 1191 to 1246 and the counts of Holland from 1299 to 1354. Between 1428 and 1433, Hainaut came under the rule of the Burgundian dukes. In 1477 (definitively in 1482), Hainaut passed to the Hapsburgs and, along with the other Belgian territories under Hapsburg rule, became one of the 17 provinces of the Netherlands. The southern part of Hainaut was annexed by France in the second half of the 17th century.

Hainaut

, Hainault

a province of SW Belgium: stretches from the Flanders Plain in the north to the Ardennes in the south. Capital: Mons. Pop.: 1 283 200 (2004 est.). Area: 3797 sq. km (1466 sq. miles)

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